


at one of our countless days

by April (featherx)



Series: but in the end I will always come back to you [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-10-13 19:57:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10520775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/featherx/pseuds/April
Summary: Really, Junmyeon supposes he can't entirely blame those jerks. They did give him a chance to talk to his long-time crush. (High School AU)





	

**Author's Note:**

> prompt taken from unspokenend.tumblr.com/post/158025611716/ - "You’re the cute nerd that keeps getting pushed around but you just punched your bully and I gotta save you"

“Myeoni, you’re making the doe eyes again,” Baekhyun sighs, flicking a ball of crumpled paper at Junmyeon’s head. It connects, and it is certainly not a love tap. “Seriously? If you like her that much, just _ask her out_ , it’s not _that_ hard.”

Junmyeon blinks, and averts his gaze from the girl sitting on the other side of the classroom. “Well, it certainly _looks_ that hard.”

“Look at Yeol! He asked Chesqa out—”

“Yeah, ‘cause you dared him, and I heard he got punched in the face.”

Baekhyun looks thoughtful. “That wasn’t the biggest rumor ever, right? Chesqa did something else with his face, but it definitely wasn’t a punch… with the fist, anyway…”

“This is ridiculous,” Junmyeon states, because it is, and that’s that. He closes his textbook shut, since he obviously hadn’t made much progress with its contents. He decides to blame _her_ for it. It _is_ her fault he had lost focus by… staring at her lovely hair. That must be it. “I’m quite – _content_ with this, anyway. Sitting around and, uh… watching. Looking. _Admiring_ from afar.”

“You sound like a stalker,” Baekhyun remarks. “I wish I didn’t have to tell you that, but you did sound like a stalker. And the other day. And the other day, when you actually did stalk her Facebook.”

“I didn’t _stalk_ , I – assessed the pros and cons of adding her as a friend!”

“So you had to look through her profile pictures from three years ago?”

Junmyeon groans and buries his face in his hands. He never should have told Baekhyun about her, but his split-second decision to spill had obviously not been the best split-second decision he’s ever made. “I just don’t wanna end up getting rejected.”

Baekhyun snorts. “Rejected. Did you hear that? _Rejected._ ”

“I’d totally reject the star student and musical prodigy of the whole school, yeah, no big deal,” Sehun pipes up from somewhere in front of Junmyeon. He doesn’t exactly feel like looking up anyway. “Seriously, Myeoni? Why don’t you just, you know, walk up and start a conversation? She looks like she’s _dying_ to talk to you.”

With some hesitance, Junmyeon peers out from his fingers. She hasn’t moved from her previous position, which was staring down at her notebook, scribbling down words Junmyeon can’t make out. “I don’t know, she seems pretty alright right now,” Junmyeon observes. “More emphasis on the _pretty_ part…”

“My God,” Sehun says, “you are so _smitten_ that I’m not even surprised. Next I’ll be seeing you throwing up flowers every time she smiles at your general direction.”

“Did you get the words ‘general direction’ from your English textbook?” Baekhyun mutters.

Sehun’s eye twitches. “Did you say something, baked goods?”

“Must have been the wind.” Baekhyun’s eyebrows rise. “Hey – Myeoni, our little friend’s in some trouble. Look at that.”

Much to his reluctance, Junmyeon looks at her again – and almost falls off his seat when he sees some of the most infamous bullies in school walk up to her casually. She doesn’t even look bothered, but Junmyeon looks closer, and he can almost hear the tapping of her pencil against the table. “What’re they doing with her? She hasn’t done anything, has she?”

Baekhyun shrugs unsurely. “They’re jerks. They don’t need her to have done anything.”

“Ooh. Look at these pretty little notes,” one of them purrs, snatching her notebook off her table, holding the pages between his fingers like he might catch something if he held onto them too long. “Such a pity if I were to… well… accidentally rip these papers, right?”

“Can’t you just stop it?” She sighs, resignation dripping from her tone. “Look, they’re just notes, okay? Do you think I’m writing blackmail on you or something? Get over yourself.”

The jock snarls. (Jock. No wonder he was a jerk, too.) “You talking back to me, Robinson?”

“No, I’m saying the truth—”

He tosses the notebook to one of the other bullies. “If we need a little fire,” he says, as way of explanation, “then we’ve got—” But he doesn’t get to finish his sentence, because suddenly she’s standing and swinging a fist straight for the jock’s face. Her hand connects, his face goes flying to the side, and suddenly it’s a whirlwind of activity in the quiet classroom. “You – _bitch_ ,” he snaps, back on his feet, and then there’s fear taking over her features again—

Junmyeon rockets off his chair and almost trips trying to get in between the two of them. “Hey! Hey, no need for violence in the classroom, okay? Breaks in between classes don’t mean you get to pick fights.” Really, he’s mostly focusing on the way she’s staring up at him right now, her eyes wide and shining. Junmyeon tries not to let his heart beat too loudly, just in case she might hear.

“Kim Junmyeon, hello,” the jock greets curtly, disdain barely hidden in his tone. “No misunderstandings here, alright? We were just playing around with her a little.” He casts her a disgusted look, one she returns defiantly. “Hey. Give her the notebook back. What were you thinking anyway, getting something that ain’t yours?”

“What? I-I mean, sorry, man,” the goon grunts, tossing her the notebook back with no small amount of annoyance. She catches it clumsily, hugging the notebook to her chest like it was her firstborn child.

“There.” The jock smiles winningly. Junmyeon doesn’t return it, and the smile falls, replaced with a frown. “Che. It’s fine. I know why you didn’t interrupt when she came up to sock me in the face anyway. Got a thing for feisty girls, don’t you?”

Junmyeon’s eyes narrow, and the jock laughs nervously. “We’ve all got our – interests. Come on, boys, it’s class time.” They high-tail it back to their corner of the classroom, casting dark glances at Junmyeon and her the whole time.

( _Junmyeon and her_. Wow. That was a thing now. They sort of had an “us.” _Junmyeon and her_ —okay, wait, get over yourself, Myeoni…)

There’s a bit of awkward silence between the two of them, until finally the girl clears her throat. “Um. Hey, uh, thanks, you… didn’t need to do that.” She looks up at him, smiles a better smile than the jock ever can. “Kim Junmyeon, right? You’re friends with Chesqa’s new boyfriend.”

“Huh? O-Oh, I mean, right.” He’s blushing. Oh, God, he’s _definitely_ blushing. This _cannot_ be. Junmyeon knew nothing about her type, but he was fairly sure she liked the typical aloof, indifferent guy who most certainly did _not_ blush. And maybe he had to slick his hair back, too, or something? Jesus. “Er. It’s fine, by the way. We’ve all got to stick out for one another.” He smiles this time, a little more genuinely. Besides, it’s hard not to be genuine with her.

She ducks her head, tucks a lock of hair behind her ear, and her shy smile has _got_ to be the cutest, most precious thing Junmyeon has ever seen. As _in_. It’s like all the angels in Heaven came together to form one, beautiful, sunshine-and-rainbows archangel – and Junmyeon should probably stop rambling. “Um,” she’s saying, “I’m – Maxine. Maxine Robinson. But call me Max.”

_I know,_ Junmyeon wants to say. Instead he grins, which might _perhaps_ be a bit much, but he honestly can’t bring himself to care. “It’s great to meet you – Max.”

And saying her name feels like a promise.


End file.
